Retiring Dilshan speaks on lack of support during his captaincy stint

Updated: Aug 29, 2016 20:05 IST

Colombo [Sri Lanka], Aug.29 (ANI): Retiring Sri Lankan opener Tillakaratne Dilshan has revealed how poorly he felt he was treated during his 10-month tenure as a captain while also criticizing current skipper Angelo Mathews for not bowling enough at that time.

The 39-year-old was named skipper after both Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene had resigned from the post in 2011.Dilshan, however, was later eventually replaced by Jayawardene after the South Africa tour.

Dilshan, who served as a skipper between April 2011 and January 2012, insisted that he did not received the support of some of his team-mates during his charge as the captain and admitted that he felt extremely hurt by his sudden removal.

"I didn't actually plan to take the captaincy, but the SLC president asked me to take over for six months until we find someone else. Unfortunately, we had also lost two bowlers. Murali [Muttiah Muralitharan] had retired. Nuwan Kulasekara was injured. Ajantha Mendis was injured. I didn't have great resources," he was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo.

" Angelo Mathews had a calf injury for a year that stopped him from bowling. That must be because of my misfortune, because after I had stepped down, we went to Australia after a week. In that week, Mathews started bowling. That must be because of Mahela's good fortune," Dilshan added.

Mathews did not bowl in nine of the 20 ODIs and 12 of the 16 Test innings under Dilshan, but these figures did see a substantial change when Jayawardene resumed captaincy.

Despite sudden dismissal, Dilshan said that he did not allow his ousting to have any effect on his game as he went on to score highest runs in the tri-series in Australia in 2012.

"At the end of that South Africa series, I put everything aside. I went to Australia, scored 500 runs, and became Man of the Series. It didn't matter to me who was captain. I wasn't concerned about who ousted me as captain. I always play for my country. I didn't worry about those personal things, but I was hurt," insisted Dilshan.

While Dilshan will play two more T20 matches before calling curtains to his international career, he insisted that his decision to retire from the game had been spontaneous.

Dilshan, who confirmed last week that he would call curtains to his illustrious career after completion of ongoing Australia series, will retire completely after playing two T20s against Australia on Sept. 6 and Sept. 9.

Known for his famous 'Dilscoop' ramp shot, Dilshan has accumulated a staggering 10,248 runs in the 50-overs format and taken 106 wickets in 329 matches.

The swashbuckling batsman had retired from Test cricket in 2013. (ANI)